Lombards (bankers)
From the 13th century onwards, Italian merchants increasingly appeared as bankers on the Lower Rhine. They played an increasingly important role in both lending and trading bills of exchange . In this regard they were superior to local merchants both because of their greater skill in money business and their large capital holdings. In addition, they were specifically promoted by princes of the Lower Rhine region from the 14th century. In this century they also managed to penetrate the financial markets of the Middle Rhine region . All Italians in the money business in the German-speaking regions of the Holy Roman Empire were called Lombards regardless of their actual origin .
Causes of Italian banking in the Rhine area
Italian merchants had already developed superior financial management methods in the 13th century, such as the transfer of payments over long distances using bills of exchange and invoicing methods in order to cope with payment transactions with the most varied types of coins. These techniques had become indispensable in the long-distance trade for the champagne fairs . With the decline of the champagne fairs at the end of the 13th century, European north-south trade was increasingly conducted along the Rhine .
In the Rhine region, local business people lacked the know-how and coin capital to cope with this trade. In addition, the administrative structures in the Rhenish territorial rulers changed. Military and political tasks were increasingly regulated through financial transfers. One speaks of a commercialization of the administration, whereby the territorial lords also lacked monetary capital.
Thus, on the one hand, there was a need for financial experts and lenders in the Rhine region and, on the other hand, due to the decline of the champagne fairs, there was an incentive for Italian long-distance traders to relocate.
Branches of the Lombards
The most successful branches of the Lombards were on the Lower Rhine in Cologne and Aachen . Its owners came mainly from Asti and Chieri . However, the entire Lower Rhine region was covered with a network of branches. The places Gladbach ( Mönchengladbach ), Dülken , Heinsberg , Aldenhoven and Jülich are occupied . In Erkelenz they can be proven in 1370.
The settlement was always temporary and the protection of the sovereign was bought with high fees. It mostly took place voluntarily in colonies, for practical reasons and a feeling of belonging as a special group. Assimilation did not take place. Marriage relationships with local residents were rare and mostly business-driven.
The Lombards were only able to penetrate the money business on the Moselle and Middle Rhine in the late 14th century, as the local rulers preferred Jewish financial experts. From 1420, Lombards were gradually expelled from the Rhine region.
Lombards' way of doing business
Lombards were active both in money transfer, in small and medium-sized credit business and in the granting of large loans to sovereigns.
In the latter, they usually acted as a consortium . This gave a large loan to a sovereign and was then given the privilege to administer customs and tax rights of this sovereign and thus independently collect the loan and interest again. The Lombards involved thus became part of the territorial financial administration. Often the petty aristocratic officials of the territory acted as mediators.
Lombard loans were mostly short-term and high-interest.
Reasons for the eviction of the Lombards
At the beginning of the 15th century, local merchants and bankers increasingly succeeded in adopting modern methods of money business and in accumulating larger amounts of capital. At the same time, the lending business on the Lower and Middle Rhine changed. Short-term, high-interest loans, such as the Lombardy offered, lost in importance compared to long-term, low-interest loans such as the annuity and the annuity .
There was no need to continue to tolerate the Lombards.
See also
literature
- Lexicon of the Middle Ages, Vol. V, Munich 1991
- Irsigler Franz: Jews and Lombards on the Lower Rhine in the 14th century, in: Haverkamp, Alfred: On the history of the Jews in Germany in the late Middle Ages and early modern times, Stuttgart 1981
- Lombards in Germania-Romania (annotated maps), arr. by Winfried Reichert (contributions to regional and cultural history 2; 65 maps), Trier 2003.
Individual evidence
- ^ Studies on the history of the city of Erkelenz from the Middle Ages to the early modern period, Cologne 1976, p. 102f.